East hosts fastball championships

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After 28 years, the Canadian Native Fastball Championships were held for the first time at Garden River First Nation this year. Organizers spent two years preparing to host the 29th annual tournament in Ontario, after the games' long history in the West. Last year the tournament was held in Brandon, Man.

More than 30 teams from across Canada competed Aug. 1 to 3: 10 in the men's A division, eight in the men's B division and 10 in the lone women's division.

In the men's A division, the Prince George River Kings from British Columbia took home the first place spot and $10,000, beating out the Garden River team 2-0. Nova Scotia's Eskasoni Extreme placed third.

In the men's B division, Ontario's Sagamok First Nation River Dogs bested the Mallard Stars from Manitoba 6-3, and took home $5,000. Saskatchewan's Okanese Braves were third.

On the women's side, Alberta's Alexis Jets beat out the Garden River Elite for first spot, and the Six Nations Women from southern Ontario placed third.

Two men's junior teams also competed, both from Garden River First Nation. The Garden River Pine Belleau Logging Juniors beat the Garden River Sootree Experts.

At press time, all the scores were not available.

Glen Chiblow, president of the Garden River First Nation Native Fastball Association, said that despite the fact that world-class pitcher Darren Zack was pitching for the Garden River First Nation A team, they were not able to win. He thinks that was because the team did not play enough ball.

"Prince George was a good team, we cannot take that away from them. I think that (Garden River) just got beat by a better team and that is all. I mean you can have the best pitcher, but you also need to be able to hit the ball in home runs, and we didn't in any of the games."

Chiblow said that there were more than 1,000 people attending the games each day, rain delaying the games for an hour-and-a-half only on the first day. Generally, it was "nearly perfect" weather.

Some scheduling problems that incorrectly listed who was playing who in the B side games caused some confusion for the Western teams, Chiblow said. "We gathered up the teams and we fixed the situation so it all worked out, so we want to apologize to the Western teams that were affected by this and for any inconvenience it's caused.

"It was good competition and they enjoyed it. We only had two junior teams and they were local teams, Pine Belleau Logging Juniors defeated the Sootree Experts Juniors. All the winners received jackets, and not just the division champs," he said.

Zack, who won three gold medals pitching at the Pan Am Games in 1991, 1995 and 1999, and who has won numerous world softball championships, said that he grew up on the ball field. His parents and most of his family played. He said that he believes that sports are great for youth.

"If kids had something to do all the time, they would stay out of trouble. By practising every day, they would get better at the game and gain a lot of self-esteem. If you do something great, do it right-practice makes it twice as better. Keep the youth busy, keep them occupied with sports, because it goes a long ways in life."

President of the Canadian Native Fastball Championships, A.K. Kootenay, said these championships began 29 years ago when people from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba got together and began to host tournaments. He added that in the past couple of years the governing body that oversees eligibility, represented by two people from every province, felt that the event was dying. They were not getting as much participation as in the past, so they restructured and included a junior division.

"The whole role is to have categories from minor fastball to masters fastball to run all week long during the tournament. That is still our long-range goal. As a committee we made some changes for the betterment of the games. We definitely went through some growing pains, and there's ben success. Eventually we wold like to have more representation from the East," he said. Eventually we are going back to Vancouver and work our way back through the provinces. That way we will hit every province," he said.

Kootenay, who has played on Alberta's Alexander Tipi Crawlers Team, said that he loves the game. "It brings people from different provinces together and from different First Nation communities. It helps build friendships and forge new friendships. It is a very competitive sport and everybody goes for the pride," he said.

"Sports for kids develops character. If you put a kid in a sport activity there is probably (a 99 per cent chance) that he or she is not going to get into trouble. They can develop communication skills, relationship skills, and life skills and self-esteem. It is just a part of the game. That is why we want the kids to be involved in this sport, that is our whole objective," A. K. Kootenay said.

According to Crystale Thibault, a Garden River Fastball Association committee member, the games were "awesome. It was great."

"It was a great turnout," agreed Christine Whiskeychan, another committee member. "Lots of people, lots of food, everyone was happy and impressed by the tournament."

Chiblow said that the biggest seller at the event was the Native food: the scone dogs made with bannock, the Indian Tacos, and soup and bannock. Prince George, B.C. will host the championship games in 2004.